


Shedding Layers

by emothy



Category: Kamen Rider Gaim
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 21:05:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emothy/pseuds/emothy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Anyone who works as closely with your brother as I do would know you," he says simply. "Takatora is very protective of you, Mitsuzane. It wouldn't be wise for me to incur his wrath by mistreating you. Do you understand?"</i> </p>
<p>(Set during/after episode 14)</p>
<p><b>content notes:</b> reference to an incestuous relationship (brief, but tagged in the pairings also for people who wish to avoid it entirely), reference to mind-altering substances, reference to blackmail, semi-explicit sexual activity (no penetrative sex), underage character in a sexual situation (and an age-gap between the pair). </p>
<p><s>I wish there was reference to Ryoma/Takatora in here too, but that's still a secret</s> 8D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shedding Layers

-

_Kouta-san killed Yuuya-san._

_Yuuya-san._

_Kouta-san did it, he didn't even know-_

"You can't stay here, someone will find you," a calm, firm voice says from above him. Micchi tries to look up but he can't make his eyes focus properly, his vision sliding off to the side and far into the distance. He can't stop thinking about it. Yuuya-san... Yuuya-san is gone. 

A hand grips the underside of his arm to pull him upright. "Come on," the man speaks again, "do you want your brother to find you here like this?" 

"Niisan...?" Micchi repeats distractedly. That's something he can try to focus on. Why would his niisan care if he found him here? 

...Where is he? 

"Mmmhmm, your brother, Takatora. You're lucky I had someone pull him from the room with a phone call earlier. I arranged that for you."

Micchi tries to recall the last few minutes. Is it minutes? It could be longer - everything is hazy and seems unimportant compared to what he's just discovered about Kouta and Yuuya. He can remember unfamiliar corridors, people in suits seen from a distance. Yggdrasill. He's at Yggdrasill. His brother will never forgive him if he finds out. 

Suddenly it occurs to him to wonder just who his benefactor is. Micchi isn't used to not knowing things - it makes him uncomfortable - and he doesn't know this man at all, beyond seeing him in the videos he had watched just now. He was experimenting, recording the results. 

"Who are you? How do you know me?" He tries to demand. It comes out a feeble and confused jumble of words. The man in the lab coat - whose hand is still firmly wrapped around his upper arm - softens his expression into a smile. 

His smile knows too much. 

"Anyone who works as closely with your brother as I do would know you," he says simply. "Takatora is very protective of you, Mitsuzane. It wouldn't be wise for me to incur his wrath by mistreating you. Do you understand?" 

Micchi understands that he hasn't been told anything, and too much, all at once. This man knows far more about him than the reverse. He has to regain some ground.

"I know you discovered the fruit," Micchi says, "in Helheim Forest. And that you discovered what it does to animals… to _people_!"

"I never tested the effects on people myself," comes the calm reply. "I have recorded the results, yes, but I didn't lead anyone to the fruit, nor force them to ingest it. I've been researching how to control the appearance of the Cracks, for the safety of everyone." 

"Who are you?" Micchi persists.

"Knowing that won't reveal anything to you. But you can call me professor if you like."

Micchi pulls a face, and the man laughs. 

"Ryoma, then?" he suggests with a gleam in his eye. In the next moment his face is serious and stern. "We haven't time for this. If you wish to continue this discussion without being caught by Takatora then come with me now. He'll be returning at any moment."

His grip on Micchi isn't overly firm, but Micchi doesn't feel capable of summoning the strength to resist anyway should he choose to become any more aggressive. He allows himself to be led back to the door.

"Take off your coat," Ryoma says, "it's too obvious you don't belong here when you're wearing outdoor clothing. Just follow me and don't make eye contact with anyone and you'll be safe, I promise." 

Micchi has no reason to trust Ryoma, but he has no better options right now either. He should have known earlier that once the camera had caught him he was doomed. He did, really. He had known, deep down inside, but he'd convinced himself that since he was already inside Yggdrasill's tower he should simply try to find out as much as he could before inevitably getting caught. And perhaps his brother never would have found out. This way there's a chance he still won't. 

And if he is, well, it's nothing Micchi wasn't expecting anyway. He fumbles with the toggles of his coat until Ryoma's hands reach out to help him as it becomes clear that he still hasn't regained his coordination. The shock might never go away, he realises with dismay. He has to keep this from Kouta-san. Kouta-san can't know that he killed Yuuya-san in Inves form. Neither can any of the team; they'd be heartbroken. _Mai-san_ would be heartbroken. But how can he keep this secret? It's probably written all over his face. Micchi stands rooted to the spot as his coat and the blazer beneath it ("also too recognisable; it's clearly school uniform," Ryoma says flatly when he uncovers it), are pulled off his shoulders and folded up, placed in his arms. He clings to them like a comfort blanket from when he was small. 

"Stay close," Ryoma reminds him with a whisper, right beside his ear. Micchi gives a half-hearted nod and allows his head to continue to hang low as he follows Ryoma out into the corridor. _Left, right, left, right_ , it's the safest thing to think about. One foot in front of the other. If anybody notices him they make no comment. Micchi has no way of knowing that a meek subordinate who doesn't even dare look up following two steps behind Professor Ryoma is nothing new to the other Yggdrasill employees. 

"This is my laboratory," Ryoma says as he guides Micchi through the door. "Security cameras only operate in here when I will it, so there's no chance of anyone seeing you via that footage. You can relax." Ryoma pulls out a chair and gestures to Micchi to sit down in it. "Rest. You've had a big shock. Let me get you a hot drink to calm your nerves." 

"Ah," Micchi nods in agreement. And then the wheels start to turn in his mind. He can't help it; it's the way Ryoma said the words so knowingly. _You've had a big shock._ Well, discovering that animals and humans can be turned into Inves certainly was-

"It must've been particularly upsetting to discover your own friend is a murderer," Ryoma says from across the room as the whirr of the coffee maker sounds out. And then he turns. "Right, Micchi?" 

Micchi. 

_Micchi._

Nobody calls him that except-

Micchi bolts up out the chair. Ryoma, this professor, he knows about the team! He knows about Team Gaim, and Kouta-san. He knows Kouta-san is the armoured rider from the video, and he knows that Micchi-

He _knows_ about Micchi. 

"Think before you run," Ryoma says, turning back to the coffee maker as though Micchi isn't a flight risk. "Out there you have no allies at all, except your brother. But will his instinct to protect you win out against his anger at you? I have no data to go on in that respect, otherwise I'd be able to advise you on it. I, on the other hand, know your secrets and I'm not angry about them. Think wisely." 

Micchi can feel tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. How can Ryoma be right? Why does knowing that somebody _knows_ who he is lift a weight from his shoulders? To his brother he is a smart, studious young man with interesting insights, who will one day be a fine employee for Yggdrasill. To his friends he's a smart but carefree boy who enjoys dancing and who has learnt how to fight. None of those things are a lie, exactly, but they're certainly not the whole truth either. 

He doesn't move. He doesn't leave. 

"And, as I'm sure you've surmised - since Takatora is terrible at keeping his feelings hidden - he has no idea that you are the owner of one of the Drivers, either, _Armoured Rider Ryuugen_ ," Ryoma smirks, bringing a cup of hot coffee over to Micchi and placing it on the desk beside his currently-empty chair.

"As to how he has managed to stay ignorant of this key piece of information, well. Part of it was an inadvisable choice of his to dismiss the files containing the information, because he considers all of the test subjects - the Beat Riders - beneath him. As you well know. The rest was the decision of his contemporaries to avoid sharing the knowledge with him after that initial dismissal, so as not to risk being the recipient of his anger." Ryoma leans back against one of the desks opposite Micchi and runs a finger along the edge of it thoughtfully. "If it helps, I don't believe he will accept the truth of it unless he sees it with his own eyes. No mere accusation will convince your brother that you were capable of obtaining a Driver without his knowledge. Especially since they were all carefully distributed by Sid-san. Sid would surely have known better than to do such a thing." 

"But he did do it," Micchi retorts. "I threatened him."

"I'm well aware," Ryoma replies. "Sid was wearing recording equipment in order for me to verify the identities of the people he gave the drivers to. I know very well that you're a force to be reckoned with, Mitsuzane. That's why I'd prefer to have you on my side." 

"You… _That's_ why?" 

"Does it surprise you so much?" Ryoma asks, eyes brightening. "To have somebody be truthful with you?" 

"For you to, yes," Micchi says. "Yggdrasill are behind something terrible - people are getting hurt! - and all you're doing is covering it up to hide your own mistakes."

"We're covering up the incidents so as not to incite mass panic," Ryoma states simply. "There is currently only one entrance into Helheim Forest that I have had the privacy and resources to have harnessed and now control, as you saw earlier. The others appear at random in very open, public places, often with no resources nearby, such as electricity to attempt to create a forcefield around and stabilize them. The only way I can attempt to tame the erratic nature of the forest right now is by looking for a pattern in how often the cracks appear, how long for, and where. And I can only continue to do that so long as the people of the city remain largely ignorant."

"...You're right."

Micchi sinks back down into the chair, feeling his knees go weak beneath him. What Yggdrasill have begun is wrong, but at least Professor Ryoma is attempting to make it right. He never could have known this was going to happen when they started. 

"Drink your coffee. I made sure not to put too much caffeine in it." 

Ryoma looks at him expectantly. Too expectantly. 

"What's in it?" Micchi asks, eyes widening as he realises how close he could have come to being drugged, or worse. There are things that wipe your short-term memory - what if he'd forgotten everything he'd learnt today about Yggdrasill and their experiments, and about Yuuya-san, and had been dumped on the street somewhere to wake up confused and alone? 

"Oh dear," Ryoma's mouth twists with amusement as he shakes his head. "I'm a little more forthright than that. Think about what I've told you so far. I've revealed many of my secrets too, Mitsuzane. If I wanted to make you more compliant I'd get your permission first."

It doesn't sound like a reassuring promise; it sounds like he would simply resort to manipulation. He would allow Micchi to think it was all his own idea and choice. But Ryoma's so open about it! How does he possibly think it would work if he tells Micchi what he plans to do beforehand? 

"What do you want from me?" 

"Oh," Ryoma pulls up a chair and sits down opposite Micchi, leaning back and crossing his legs loosely. "Shall I be honest? Perhaps a little of what you give your brother that often causes him to smile when he thinks nobody is looking. It's the only time he really does smile, you know." 

Micchi feels his heart speed up. Of all his secrets, this one is the one with the fewest people who know it. Just himself and his brother... And Ryoma, apparently. But how? Micchi can't even work out how to deny it - _he shouldn't have to deny it_! It should be obvious. Brothers don't sleep with brothers! Ryoma never even said it explicitly, Micchi could pretend to misunderstand, because there's no way anyone else would infer from those words that-

"It's okay," Ryoma says soothingly, "you haven't done anything wrong. Takatora wears his heart on his sleeve. He made it very obvious, but only to me. Other people don't notice details the way I do. He loves you very much, and his love includes a sexual component. You share those feelings for him."

"You don't," Micchi stammers. _You don't understand?_ "You can't-" _You can't tell anyone?_ He can't even decide what the most important thing to say is anymore. He hasn't even touched upon the fact that Ryoma just suggested he wants to have sex with him! "Are you... blackmailing me?" 

"Not at all," Ryoma says. "I don't want you to feel coerced. If I were to blackmail anyone with this information, wouldn't it be better for me to blackmail your brother? He project manages our operation, I could use the leverage to get plenty of things I needed for my research. Besides, who would believe such a sweet, studious young boy such as yourself could have seduced his serious, smouldering older brother? The blame would fall squarely on him. You would be well cared for in the aftermath. Takatora would not be so lucky."

"You _are_ blackmailing me," Micchi says flatly. "You're telling me that I shouldn't do it to protect myself, but for niisan's sake."

"I'm not," Ryoma replies. "I'm telling you that your secret is safe with me. As all of them are. I could have used the information at any time but I haven't. I like Takatora. He amuses me." 

"What if I tell niisan everything you've told me?"

"I'd be disappointed," Ryoma admits. "I had been predicting more from you. And I, of course, in turn would have to tell Takatora everything _you_ have told _me_. Or show him. I told you that security cameras don't run in here unless I will it. That doesn't mean I don't have my own personal documentation devices running at any given time." Ryoma leans forward and taps a few keys on the computer keyboard until a live video feed of the room pops up. As he speaks the words echo on the screen. "I didn't have to tell you about this, but I am. Just because you believe we're on opposing sides doesn't mean you can't trust me. Doesn't it feel good to drop all of the layers and to not have to lie, hmm?" 

Micchi doesn't answer but he doesn't really have to. They both know it's true without it having to be said out loud. Ryoma is always two steps ahead of him - he's older, wiser, he has access to unlimited resources thanks to Yggdrasill's influence and profits. Micchi wants the potential Ryoma has at his fingertips. Ryoma's power entices him. 

"If you're not attracted to me that's fine," Ryoma says casually. Smugly. Like he knows Micchi can't call his bluff. Of course having sex with someone because you're attracted to them is far more compelling a reason to than doing it because of the risk of blackmail. _I'd get your permission first,_ Ryoma had said earlier, and Micchi knows that this is his own decision, and yet it's still exactly what Ryoma had wanted in the first place. Sex is a very fast and effective way to obtain power over someone, though. Micchi knows that from experience.

Micchi loosens the tie around his neck until it comes all the way undone and then drops it to the floor. "Will you turn it off now if I ask you to?" he asks, nodding at the image of himself getting undressed on the screen.

"I am quite sure I'll remember this even without footage," Ryoma concedes, and hits the 'end recording' button. Micchi takes a step forward.

"That's definitely the only recording you had going?"

"Yes. But it's very difficult to prove something definitively does _not_ exist. You'll have to trust me," Ryoma brings his hand to his mouth and trails his finger along his lower lip as he speaks, pronouncing the words slowly and carefully. "You have to remember," he points out, "that I wouldn't necessarily want that sort of footage to exist either. There would always be the chance that Takatora would discover it." _And unleash his wrath on me,_ Ryoma does not add, but the implication is plain. 

"But he would see me undressing for you," Micchi says as he starts to unbutton his shirt. 

"He wouldn't believe it even if he saw it," Ryoma says knowingly. He sits back in his chair again, slouching almost lazily as he allows Micchi to come to him, keeping his legs together to allow Micchi to straddle them. Micchi sits himself right across Ryoma's lap. "He'd accuse me of seducing you. Corrupting you. He's so proud of you. When he speaks about you it sounds as though you represent all of his ideals." 

_I don't_ , Micchi thinks, but doesn't say it aloud because it feels disloyal. It's fine to know that he keeps secrets from his brother, and that Takatora doesn't know the real him in a lot of ways, but his love for his niisan is real, and he wouldn't want that misunderstood. Instead he reaches out for Ryoma's hands. As he touches them Micchi notices that they're rough and callused like they've laboured, not just sat at a desk typing notes in files. It's curious. Micchi sets the thought aside and brings them up to his waist for Ryoma to touch him. 

"Do you want me to touch you the way Takatora does, Mitsuzane?" Micchi squirms away from Ryoma's hands and shakes his head.

"No," he says firmly. "No, don't pretend you're like him." There is nobody like Takatora. "I thought the point was that we could be ourselves here, not pretend to be something else."

"Good point," Ryoma agrees softly, and leans forward to sink his teeth into Micchi's shoulder. Micchi yelps. He wasn't expecting it; nobody has ever done such a thing to him before! It didn't hurt badly though, it was the shock that made him cry out, and there isn't even any time to linger on it because Ryoma quickly sweeps his tongue over the place he's just bitten to soothe it. Then he probes at it as though testing to see whether he has made the skin particularly tender anywhere. 

"How will I... explain that?" Micchi asks with a whimper as Ryoma throws himself into nibbling at the spot, his teeth creating light little pinches that make Micchi's entire spine tingle. It'll be colourfully bruised by tomorrow.

"Not my problem," Ryoma replies, kissing his way up Micchi's neck. "Just enjoy it. I want to taste all of you. I want to know all of you." 

"Yes," Micchi agrees, throwing away all pretence of caring whether it's wise or not. Nothing he has done today has been wise. All that matters is getting Ryoma at least partially naked, as he himself is. Micchi fists hands into Ryoma's shirt and tugs at it until his hands reach higher and inward and finally meet with the buttons. The kisses continue up along his jawline, soft but persistent, until Ryoma's mouth is quite literally claiming his, barely even allowing him to breathe. It's intense. Micchi gasps into Ryoma's mouth and shifts himself even closer, until their bodies are pressed tightly together - Ryoma jerks his hips in response right in his seat even with Micchi's weight on top of him - and then Ryoma's shirt is suddenly half undone, and there are hands sliding up Micchi's back, under his open shirt and feeling every available inch of skin. 

Micchi barely has room between himself and Ryoma to finish unbuttoning Ryoma's shirt, but he reaches down between the two of them anyway, uncaring of the fact that his hands come into contact with his crotch. Not so easy to ignore when it happens, though. When he moans Ryoma pulls away, glancing down and immediately understanding. 

"Undo your pants," he suggests with a predatory gleam in his eyes, and shrugs off his lab coat and shirt in one casual move, some fluid flick of the arms and a drop of the shoulders that makes them pool behind him on the chair. Micchi is surprised to see that even though Ryoma is ridiculously slender he has firmly defined arm and abdomen muscles. Another vague clue that suggests he is far more active than a professor might be presumed to be. 

Micchi's legs are spread too wide on either side of Ryoma for him to be able to pull his pants down very far, but it'll be far enough. He feels a little vulnerable to be undressing like this, even if it's liberating at the same time. He glances at Ryoma to see that he's doing the same thing, casually unbuckling his belt and opening his pants. It's reassuring to at least feel as though they're both on level ground. Both as naked as one another. Perhaps Micchi's secrets have been the more dangerous ones, but he hasn't had to confess anything Ryoma didn't already know, only confirm it. Ryoma has been the one divulging new information for Micchi to armour himself with here. It counts as even. 

Micchi hesitates to actually slide his pants down off his hips when it comes to it, and Ryoma doesn't say anything when he stops. Ryoma himself has no such qualms, lifting up with Micchi still astride him to push his pants and underwear part-way down his thighs. His cock is already fully hard, unmistakably so. He doesn't seem to care if Micchi keeps looking at it; he actually seems pretty smug about it. Micchi just wants to touch him. He has no idea if he'll do it right - the way Ryoma would like - but putting a hand on his cock and feeling it is more of a priority than worrying about that right now anyway. 

His hand hovers between the two of them. Taking that step would be so final. 

Ryoma doesn't try to rush him, just reaches out to Micchi's waist and slides his hands around to Micchi's back again. With his belt open there is plenty of give around his waistband now, and Ryoma takes advantage of it, plunging his hands beneath the layers of clothing to get a firm grip on Micchi's ass. He isn't gentle when he squeezes. Micchi gasps as he's propelled forward even _more_ \- he hadn't realised their bodies could get any closer! The way he's being handled, it's so rough, and so different, and _so good_. And Ryoma is right; he needs to just stop thinking and start doing. He's already been pulled within even easier reach of Ryoma's cock. Micchi wraps his hand around it and pumps experimentally. 

Things blur a little after that. Ryoma's hands on his ass ease his pants down lower and lower, until Micchi's cock meets with the cool air of the room too. It practically touches Ryoma's. A sharp squeeze to his ass makes it happen. Micchi tries to get his hand around both of their cocks at once but his fingers don't quite reach. Which is when Ryoma's hand joins his. 

"Your hands are too small and pretty," Ryoma says with a smile. "Don't worry, you're not done growing yet."

What if to a scientist like him measuring and watching Micchi's growth from adolescent to adult is something he'd get off on? Micchi can't help thinking it when Ryoma sounds so enthused. Ryoma has a way of chasing the thoughts right out of his mind, though, not allowing him to ponder them or the bigger picture involved. He strokes their cocks much more quickly and sharply than Micchi had been, as though he's challenging himself to make Micchi come as quickly as possible. 

"Unfortunately I haven't the time to do more with you than this today," Ryoma says, digging the fingers of the hand that still remains on Micchi's ass right into his skin again. His nails are blunt, but rough. How is Micchi going to explain _that_ if it leaves marks? "I have other places to be and things to do today. Perhaps next time?"

Micchi hasn't even been thinking about a next time. He hasn't _not_ been thinking about a next time, but how? And when? And where - here? But there will be a next time, it's practically decided. And there will be more. He's barely had a taste, and Ryoma can't be satisfied with the little he's had time to explore, but the promise of more is enough to send Micchi over the edge. His entire body trembles with want, and Ryoma's hand doesn't let up for a moment until the want becomes so intense it balls itself up tight and turns into blissful release. Ryoma doesn't even pause, milking Micchi's orgasm right out of him until he can hardly even keep himself upright. He has to place a hand on Ryoma's chest to support himself as he gasps for breath. 

"Don't let up," Ryoma tells him; Micchi's hand is still partially beneath his, being guided up and down the length of Ryoma's cock speedily, and Ryoma wants to get off too. "I'm so close after seeing that look on your face. You blush when you come; you must be so hot right now." 

The continual touching of his cock even after coming is starting to be a little too much. Micchi feels tender and raw, and can only respond by whimpering pitifully. It's that if anything which makes Ryoma come - that delightful, mild expression of pain and pure helplessness. It's something he revels in. He makes some kind of satisfied noise as he orgasms, something low brought up from deep within. Nothing loud that anyone would overhear. And then there's silence. 

There's no tenderness, no holding one another afterwards like Micchi is used to. He perches on Ryoma's thighs awkwardly. It's impossible to know what to do now. He should just... go. Or at least get dressed so that he can go. He climbs off of Ryoma and zips his pants back up before scooping up his shirt, walking over to his coat and blazer. 

Ryoma stays casually draped in his chair. He seems in no rush to put his clothes back on, no matter what he said moments before.

"You have it with you, don't you? The driver?" 

Micchi nods. It's the first thing that's been said since the silence descended and he doesn't want to create tension. He pulls the driver out from his pile of clothes. Ryoma only takes it from him when offered. Micchi is reluctant to hand it over at first, of course, but quickly remembers it isn't like anyone but him can use it anyway. That assumption may have been a stupid one, he realises afterwards, but nothing happens, Ryoma just looks at it. 

"I created them. I was the one who gave you the power you were craving." Ryoma strokes the Driver almost lovingly, tracing the outlines of the belt and thumbing the spot where a Lockseed can be placed. "Did you know these belts are only the prototypes? The new drivers are capable of much more. Would you like for me to give you even more power?"

"No," Micchi says, snatching the driver back. Ryoma holds his hands up in apology. "I'd rather keep the belt I got by my own means."

"Even if it came from Yggdrasill?"

"Even if it came from Yggdrasill," Micchi agrees grimly. "I'll unlock more potential from it than you ever intended. I'll use it to take Yggdrasill down if necessary. I'll make the power my own." 

"If you manage it I'll applaud you," Ryoma shrugs. "I had already predicted you would answer that way; I didn't actually even have a Genesis Driver to give you. I just wanted to hear you say it. So you'll use me for information Takatora won't give you until you feel confident enough to challenge us properly?"

"Like you used us as guinea pigs for your Sengoku Drivers," Micchi replies, staring Ryoma down. 

"It's a deal," Ryoma says, offering out his hand to shake. Micchi hesitates for a long, long time before taking it, but eventually he does. Ryoma shows no reaction, until he breaks into a smirk. "Now, Mitsuzane, do tell me: after your little spying session today how exactly were you planning to get back _out_ of the Yggdrasill building?"

-


End file.
